“Michael Jordan really lost his first game back from retirement?”: How the Bulls legend returned to basketball from baseball 27 years to this day and lost his very first game back

Michael Jordan made his grand return to the NBA after over a year away and lost to the Indiana Pacers on March 19th, 1995. 

Michael Jordan had established himself as the biggest star in North American sports by the time he had won his 3rd straight NBA championship after beating Charles Barkley and the Phoenix in the 1993 Finals. For an athlete to be at the very apex of his game and leave it high and dry, something quite crucial must’ve swayed his decision. 

Well, it did as his father untimely passing caused him to step away from the game of basketball. His father had always wanted MJ to try out professional baseball and he had already admitted to being bored of the NBA back during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

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However, after a stint in minor league baseball for nearly two years, things weren’t exactly panning out the way he wanted. After all, he had to switch up his training regimen completely, as explained by Tim Grover, and play a sport that he’d never played at such a high level before. 

The only logical outcome to come out of all this? Return to the NBA. And well, Michael Jordan did. 

Michael Jordan returns to the NBA but loses his first game back. 

“I’m back,” was the two-word fax that Michael Jordan sent out to the world to signal his return to the NBA. the Chicago Bulls more than welcomed their 3x Finals MVP back following a fizzle out in the previous year’s ECSF against the New York Knicks.

“I’m back.”

27 years ago today… Michael Jordan played in his first game after returning to the @chicagobulls in 1995! #NBA75pic.twitter.com/HHkq9OYm2I

— NBA History (@NBAHistory) March 19, 2022

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His first game back was 27 years ago to this date and was against the Indiana Pacers, led by Reggie Miller. The two teams would end up facing each other three years later in perhaps the Bulls’ most hard fought series in the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals. 

March 19th, 1995 however, saw Michael Jordan drop merely 19 points (expected of someone who hasn’t been on NBA hardwood for 2 years) and lose 103-96 to the Pacers. Miller led the game in scoring with 28 points. 

This was also the first game that Michael would wear his infamous ‘no.45’ jersey to switch things up. Losing to the Orlando Magic in the 1995 semis made him change his number back to the iconic ‘23’.